


speedforce soulmate.

by likeabomb



Category: Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-08-27 04:22:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16695352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/likeabomb/pseuds/likeabomb
Summary: Bart has always known that he and Jaime are intrinsically tied, regardless of the time or space that might separate them. Jaime has to ask, if this makes them soulmates.





	speedforce soulmate.

**Author's Note:**

> first day of the Bluepulse week, posted a little late!

It’s a feeling that starts in his chest, or maybe the pit of his stomach, and it’s a feeling that Jaime has never really been able to put into words. At least, words that don’t make him sound like he’s lost his mind. It feels like a warmth, a light, glowing in his chest, radiating and pulsing. Not with his heart. But it’s still warm and comforting and it makes him feel relaxed.

He gets the feeling whenever he thinks about Bart.

It’s a feeling he’s never really known before but he feels, in a way, like something deep in himself resonates with the speedster. It wasn’t there when he first met him, no, but it’s steadily and slowly become a thing he feels more often being around him and thinking about him.

He doesn’t think it’s bad. He hopes it’s not bad. It feels too nice to be bad.

“Khaji-da?” Jaime whispers in the dark of his room.

_ { Jaime Reyes. } _

“Do you know what that feeling is?” His fingers ghost over his own chest.

_ { What feeling? } _

“You don’t feel it too?”  
 _  
_ _{ Specify. }_ Khaji-da insists.

“That warmth. Right here.” Jaime presses more at his sternum, “It’s deep.”

_ { I do. } _

That’s a relief, at least. Maybe it’s something physical and not something psychological. Maybe he’s just… thinking about it too much? Turning his head to look at the moonlight coming through the thin curtains hung along his window, Jaime just lets the feeling continue rather than to squash it down.

“Do you know what it is?”

There is a long stretch of silence, the scarab silence in Jaime’s mind. It’s not usual for the bug to be quiet when Jaime asks them a question, but in the time Jaime has had it, he’s learned how she works. She’s nervous. Or reluctant. Sentience has suited them better, but it still needs to figure out some of the finer tunings of how to be subtle with his displays of emotion. It’s kind of cute, honestly.

_ { Redirect your query to Bart Allen. } _

“Alright, that’s not fair. You know what it is, don’t you?” Jaime huffs softly in the dark, speaking aloud to the symbiote.

_ { I do not know what you mean, Jaime Reyes. I do not have the answer to your question. } _

Jaime rolls his eyes, even if it’s with a little fondness for his scarab. “Whatever you say, Khaji-da.”

_ { Rest, Jaime Reyes. The sensation is not detrimental. } _

Rolling over onto his side, Jaime tucks his arm under his head to think about it. To think about why the sensation happens, and to think about why Khaji-da won’t tell him what it is. Khaji-da knows him better than any other creature in the universe, in every aspect. It might not understand the finer details of interpersonal relationships and how humans express themselves, but she understands how Jaime feels, and in a way, feels the same thing through their bond. It’s been a good experience for both of them, after they got past the initial hell.

The feeling is always present when thinking about Bart, but it’s just Bart, and some small part of Jaime worried for a while it had something to do with the future, and his place in ruining everything, that he was drawn to Bart because of the feeling of their future. But it was a good feeling. It made him feel warm. And he couldn’t really imagine a future that not only was awful, but that they’d subverted, would really leave him feeling like that.

Khaji-da either doesn’t know and is too embarrassed to admit it, which isn’t that strange for him, or knows, and is making a judgement call that Jaime needs to explore and learn this himself. Either way, he supposes he’s going to have to talk to Bart about it.

Jaime dozes off to the feeling of warmth prickling through his chest.

 

\---

 

Jogging to catch up to him before he zips off in a rush, Jaime’s hand lands on Bart’s shoulder and he turns quickly, quick as he does everything. His smile when he sees Jaime standing beside him is bright enough the sun pales in comparison.

For a moment, Jaime is breathless.

That feeling in his chest feels like a fire, like a furnace, burning hot and bright enough he’s sure if it had physicality, Bart could probably see it.   
  
“You okay, hermano?”   
  
Jaime blinks quickly, snapping back to reality to look at Bart, his head tilted and his smile smaller but more amused. Jaime smiles in return, relaxing a little at the shoulders.

“I’m good! I wanted to ask you something, if you’ve got the time?”

Bart ducks his head with a laugh, glancing around himself before nodding, “I’ve got nothing but time. What’s up?”

Realizing his hand is still on Bart’s shoulder, he lets it fall to his side, shifting from foot to foot for a moment, “Come chill with me on the roof?”   
  
His face is contemplative for a moment, but then Bart smiles and it looks like nothing could ever be wrong in the world, and nods.

They wind through the halls before coming out onto the roof. The wind rustles their hair and Jaime brushes his out of his face. It’s exhilarating, being up here. It’s not quite like flying, that’s it’s own thrill, but more so like this because he’s not flying. Bart hops up onto the railing to sit on it while Jaime simply leans on it. He seems to have a similar feeling, contentment, eyes closed and just breathing the fresh air, feeling the wind on his face. Jaime wonders what he’s thinking.

He gets caught up looking at all his freckles and the way the wind moves against his hair and the warmth radiating off of him standing so close.   
  
Again, he finds himself breathless.

“What’s on your mind, man?”   
  
Arching a brow, Jaime makes eye contact and grins a little, sheepish.

“I was- I was wondering about something but now that I think about it, it sounds really dumb. I don’t know how to word it.”

“I doubt it,” Bart hums, looking from Jaime out across the city.

“What?”   
  
Looking back, he smiles bright for his Jaime, “I doubt it’s dumb. Give it a shot. What’s up?”

“Well…” Jaime turns to lean his back against the railing, crossing his arms over his chest. He can feel Khaji-da pushing some of the scarab armor along his ribs and chest under his shirt. Learning each other, Khaji-da had learned that the pressure helped calm Jaime, the stimulation of something heavy relaxed him, so when his heart rate goes up, when the nervousness spikes, the scarab does what she can to help.

“I keep getting this feeling. In my chest. And I don’t know if it’s… something physically wrong, or emotionally, or temporally.”   
  
“Temporally?” Bart’s brows scrunch in skepticism. He can see the worry there, in his expression. “You think something’s wrong temporally?”

“See, it sounds dumb. It’s… whenever I think about you. And about all we’ve been through. I don’t know if it’s something to do with the…” Jaime sighs, running a hand through his hair, starting over, “The future you came from, we fixed it! We must have, the Reach is gone. But I still feel like… we need to be around each other. We were then, and we are now.”

Bart swings his feet a little, looking out over the city and Jaime glances sideways to look at him, to see if he can get any indicator for how he feels or if he has any idea what he’s even talking about. The sun on his face makes him look warm, it brings out the freckles.   
  
“Being around each other in the future wasn’t great,” Bart says softly.   
  
Jaime cringes a little, reaching to rub the back of his own neck. Maybe that wasn’t the best way to put it. He looks away from Bart, away from the city, away from the sun. That feeling in his chest feels acutely like someone’s doused it with a big bucket of water. His throat feels thick with shame.   
  
“But…” Bart starts again, and Jaime’s skin crawls. His face feels hot. “I don’t think you’re wrong, either.”

Slowly and hesitantly, he turns his head to look at the man sitting beside him. Bart still isn’t looking at him, and Jaime watches him take a deep breath, heaving it out all at once.   
  
“You’re right, it’s hard to explain.”   
  
When he does finally turn to look at Jaime, their eyes meet and a ghost of a chill runs down Jaime’s spine. Khaji-da tightens a little in reassurance.

“I think… we have something special. I came back to stop the Reach, and to stop you. There was so much I could have done to make sure things were better in the future. That the things that happened to my family, and to humanity, wouldn’t have to happen. I could have killed you. I might have. But I don’t think that’s what a hero would have done. And I needed to be a hero. Not just because it was more convincing, but because… the person I was back then- or ahead then?” He laughs lightly, shaking his head at the dumb joke. “I needed to be better. I was surviving. Every day was just about survival. Trying not to get caught and put on mode, trying not to starve to death, it was a fight every day.”   
  
Looking back out over the city sprawling around them, Bart lets his own shoulders relax a little. This can’t be easy to talk about, and Jaime listens intently. He wants Bart to know that he’s here for him, just like Bart’s there for him.

“Being here, in this time, it’s like a whole other world. I guess… I guess it _is_ a whole other world, if you think about it. It’s a good world. But being here, I don’t have to be that person anymore. I don’t have to squirreling away food. I don’t have to make the split second decision to run or fight if I hear Interlac. I don’t have to be afraid. Not of the stuff I used to be, at least.”

Jaime nods a little, the embers starting to warm in his chest again. Not quite a fire, he still feels bad he put Bart in a situation to talk about his trauma. He doesn’t want him to ever feel bad about anything.

“And it’s all because of you.”   
  
Looking up quickly, Jaime blinks quickly, mouth dry. Bart smiles so soft and warm for him and Jaime’s throat feels thick in a way he doesn’t really have words for.

“W-wh-” he tries to laugh it off, a nervous titter trapped in his chest, grasping for words. His heart hammers hard.   
  
“It was you, Jaime. I got to see _you_ , and not the Blue Beetle from the future. That wasn’t you. That was the Reach. But seeing you, and getting to know you… You’re strong, selfless, smart- you always do the right thing. You’re the best person I’ve ever known, I think.”   
  
Jaime’s hands shake and he can’t stop staring at Bart. His face feels hot and his eyes sting. The way he looks at him makes Jaime feel like he’s looking directly into his soul. It’s disconcerting, but he can’t look away.

“She’s got a funny way of doing things, but she always knows what’s best.”   
  
“Sh-she?”

“The Speed Force.”

“I-I- uh, I don’t think I follow. The what?” Jaime stammers, his heart still lodged hard in his throat.

“We call you guys lightning rods, you know. Like those big metal poles lightning is drawn to?” Bart clarifies for him, looking a little sheepish himself.  
  
Jaime nods a little, at a loss for words.  
  
“I guess you can say it’s kind of like fate, or destiny. I think it’s different than that, though. We have people who are important to us. The Speed Force keeps them safe. We’re like her kids, and the people who matter a lot to us, she takes care of them too. Grandpa Barry, Wally, me, we all have people who she keeps an eye on for us.”  
  
“Y-you mean-” Jaime huffs a laugh, still shaky, “There’s some… _something_ , watching me?”

“Uh. Sort of? It’s… complicated.” Bart ducks his head, a little ruddy with embarrassment trying to explain it.   
  
Reaching slowly, Jaime puts a hand on Bart’s arm, looking up at where he’s perched. A breeze rushes past them and it’s warm, like the sun on them. There’s not many clouds and it’s a quiet morning. It’s nice. Where they’re touching skin to skin, Jaime feels like electricity zipping between them, and with everything considered, it might not be that inaccurate.    
  
He smiles reassuringly, tilting his head a little. “It’s alright, ese. Give it a shot.”   
  
Bart laughs, rolling his eyes fondly at the way Jaime says his own words back at him.   
  
“You know Uncle Len, right? Captain Cold?”   
  
Jaime nods, thinking about the Rogues in Central City.   
  
“He died once,” Bart explains, “But he’s one of Grandpa Barry’s lightning rods. And the Speed Force. She gave him back. Grandpa needed Len in his life to be the man he is today. To be the man he’ll be in the future. She’s kind of a big picture thinker.”

“So, they’re immortal?” Jaime tries to wrap his head around it all.

Bart hums, lips pursed to think about it. “I don’t really know about that part. Maybe. I guess it all depends on how she feels. She likes to play favorites, after all.”

Huffing a laugh, he ducks his head a little and looks back up at Bart, “Favorites?”

He grins sideways at him, “Yeah, of course! Wally’s her favorite. It’s… why she took him.”

Jaime’s chest suddenly feels like it’s stuffed too full of cotton. Wally died. He disappeared from existence without a trace. Was this… Bart’s way of coping? That the being or force he saw as a God had taken his cousin? Jaime wonders, but really, there’s no harm if so. If it helps Bart contextualize his death and the loss, Jaime can’t say he blames him, really. All he manages is a little nod.

“I think Artemis is her favorite non speedster. She was a lightning rod for Wally, and without Wally, she’s now _my_ lightning rod too. She really wants to keep an eye on Artemis, I guess.”

The look on Bart’s face makes Jaime feel soft and warm. He’s happy. He’s talking about something he clearly finds passion in, and something he wonders just how often Bart can talk so freely about. It makes sense though, that there’s some otherworldly force keeping an eye on Artemis. She gets into so much trouble and into so many pinches and always comes out okay, that it’s _got to be_ the work of something greater.

“So…” Jaime picks at his fingernails in an attempt to distract himself from the nervousness bubbling up, “You’re saying I’m a lightning rod?”

“Mhm. It only makes sense, you know?”

Chewing a piece of skin off his lip, his brows knit, “Bart… the Blue Beetle of the future, _your_ future, was-”

“Not great,” Bart offers, then nods a little, “But lightning rods don’t have to be something good. Grandpa Barry has a lightning rod in Eobard Thawne, and Thawne in Grandpa. Still doesn’t mean you weren’t mine then, or mine now."

The way Bart says _mine_ in that possessive tone makes Jaime’s face go ruddy with embarrassment. He laughs a nervous sound, but he’s at a loss for words.   
  
The two sit in the quiet for a few minutes before Jaime finally finds the words gumming up his mouth and spits them out.

“Does that mean we’re soulmates?”

It doesn’t have to be in a romantic sense, of course. Bart’s connection to Artemis isn’t romantic, and Jaime highly doubts the one The Flash shares with the Reverse-Flash is, but all the same, he doesn’t have any other words to describe such a powerful bond that transcends time as it does.   
  
Bart’s legs swing where he’s sitting on the railing, his hands keeping him steady. He lets the sun warm his face, and for a time, Jaime isn’t sure he’s going to get an answer to his question. Unusual of Bart, but maybe it really is that big a question.   
  
“I guess, in a way, we are. I wouldn’t call it that, but I guess it’s not wrong either.” Bart laughs suddenly, looking at Jaime, “Sure! We’re soulmates.”

That warmth that burns in Jaime’s chest flares brightly, threatening to engulf him with the fire that burns in him. It’s Bart, he realizes. It’s feelings for Bart. The realization hits him like a truck and leaves him virtually gasping for air. He stares wide eyed at the speedster for far too long.

It gets brighter when Bart laughs, it gets warmer when they’re close, it gets hotter whenever they touch-

It might be the connection they share in the Speed Force, sure, but it’s more than that.

Jaime thinks he might love Bart. It might be platonic, but it might also be romantic, if the way Jaime’s heart races is any indication. It took him a long time to realize, but now that he’s staring that realization in the face, he can’t believe it had taken him this long to put his own feelings together.

He feels _giddy_ , honestly.

Easing in a little closer, Jaime speaks up, “Can I… Can I kiss you?”

Blinking quickly, Bart’s amused smile at Jaime’s dumbstruck face turns to confusion for a moment, and then, glee. Pink dusts his cheeks and he relaxes his shoulders slowly before nodding slowly.

Jaime reaches up with one hand to cup the curve of Bart’s jaw, fingers sinking into the hair on the nape of his neck. Bart leans down a little from his perch and they both close their eyes. Breath lingers that last nervous moment on lips, and then they kiss.

It’s soft and chaste, but the electricity sparking between them is all the reassurance either of them needs to know with certainty they’re alright with Her playing matchmaker.


End file.
